Pleeeeeeeeeease

"Mom can I pleeeeeeeease bring one more stinky shell into our car that I forget about quickly and becomes lost between the seat cushions and joins the Happy-meal-toy graveyard?"

"No"

A Little Lesson:
I really said no. I know...what mother doesn't allow her children to explore their creativity by bringing home sacred keepsakes from the sandy ocean? The one that goes there every week and has to clean up seaweed-smelling shells that make there way into pant pockets, coat pockets, backpack pockets and pockets I don't even know about on an regular basis. I'm not running for mother-of-the-year over here.

"Jamin"

This is a word used regularly in our home. It is not Hebrew, Turkish or Arabic, or to be confused with jammin to the music. When our little baby was born we named him Benjamin. We knew there would be a chance people would call him Ben, which we didn't mind, but we weren't crazy about it. Both Jordan and Emily find themselves shortening his name to Ben to which there is always an echo coming from somewhere in the house "jamin". They say "Ben" and "jamin" always follows, from either Craig or I. It has become a pretty common occurance around here.

A Little Lesson:
The stats are not in yet, but I think we might be losing this battle.

Fickle

Grandpa Grandpa hold me, hold me, remember, we are best friends!


What's this? Grandma has chocolate?

Yes, I will come to you Grandma and we can be best friends too.

You would like to share with me? Yes that would be wonderful.

I am not picky about what kind of chocolate you bribe me with!

A little lesson:
To be adored by grandparents is as sweet as life can get.

Goals

I spoke at the Achievement Day Girl's Conference this weekend about setting goals and aiming high. After a few words on free agency and using the little time we have on this earth to do something with our lives . . .I asked volunteers to come up and shoot a basket with each point I made regarding setting goals. The first girl was 20 feet away from the basket blindfolded. I explained that is what it's like trying to accomplish a goal if you haven't even decided what you want to accomplish. The next girl, was able to see the basket but was still 18 feet away. I explained that is what it is like trying to accomplish our goals without the help of our Heavenly Father. The next girl was able to try to shoot for a basket about 10 feet away, explaining when we write a goal down it means we mean business and the goal is beginning to come closer. The next volunteer was only 8 feet away when I explained we are able to really come closer to our goal when we plan and make small mini goals that help us accomplish the task at hand. Then I covered the basket with a table cloth and put the next girl 4 feet away from the basket. When our goals get hard or we become distracted, I explained this is when goals are usually abandoned, but we have to remember how close we are to the end and keep on going. Finally the final girl stood write under the basket making a perfect shot, and I explained when we have taken the steps necessary to accomplishing our goal it is almost impossible for us not to achieve it. If we only believe that we will one day be standing directly under the basket when it comes time to accomplish our goal . . . graduating from seminary, finishing university, marrying in the temple, learning to ski, studying the scriptures, overcoming a bad habit, serving in the community are all possible if we just decide, ask, write, plan, endure, and believe!

Decide what it is you want to do/be/have/give . . . big or small.
Ask, involve the Lord in your goal setting/goal accomplishing process.
Write the goal down.
Plan what we will do daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly that will bring us closer to our goal.
Endure until it is accomplished it will sometimes be hard.
Believe that this is something you can do no matter what!

A Little Lesson:
Although my Young Women's leaders might question whether I seemed to be listening at all during five years as a young women, the things they taught me year afte year about setting goals sunk deep into my heart and today I am a huge fan of setting daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals. It is what keeps me going.

Illusions

When eating blueberry crepes for breakfast, Benjamin, although he doesn't use the knife, likes to have it in his hand, like the rest of us. In fact, he doesn't even really use the fork, but he knows how grown up it is to hold both of them in his little fingers.

A Little Lesson:
I don't ever use the Pledge furniture polish or the Easy-On spray starch that live in my cleaning
cupboard, but I know how grown up it is to have them as part of my cleaning arsenal.

Surprise!

When we drove up to the academy of music like we do every week...


look what we saw!

A Little Lesson:
Not that Emily's hair by 4pm in the afternoon would look any different, I kid
you not when I say that it was after a full rip roaring day of Sport's Day at her
school last year that a photographer out of the blue came by the violin studio and
asked if he could shoot some photos for the website.
No warning. No notice. No hairbrush.
We like to call it her Beethoven look.

Hello Friend

I wait six long months for the sunshine to return to my early morning routine.

There is nothing like making pancakes at 5:30am with warm rays on my back.

A Little Lesson:
They say vegetables are good, but broccoli is the best, and that fruit is healthy
but the blueberry is the healthiest, music is wonderful but baroque can enhance our
minds. So I say, every hour is a gift from God but the ones that fall in the early
morning are wrapped in the prettiest paper sporting the biggest bow.

Moments

Last night we all went to the Gilpin Elementary school to see the the
children's opera I composed based on the story The Recess Queen.

Mean Jean and Katie Sue

I was hoping to take a whole bunch of pictures of the actual show, but the only thing that kept Benjamin quiet while sitting on my lap during the show was to take the batteries out
of my camera and put them back in again, over and over again. I was desperate.

A Little Lesson:
There are moments in my life that just feel like I'm flying in the clouds and I hope it never ends...

When I entered the temple with Craig to be married.
When I brought home each of my children from the hospital.
When we go out as a family and everyone is happy and no one fights.
When my whole house is clean, even the basement.
When I attend a church meeting that touches me to the core.
When I turned thirty and Craig organized the world.
When I loose three pounds.

As for composing music for a big bunch of children who perform it on a stage with costumes, lights, action and camera . . .it was surely a moment I didn't want to end.

Macro

I want to learn how to take pictures where the image is sharp and crisp and everything behind it is blurry. Yesterday I tried while waiting in the car, using my macro setting on my camera.
Not bad...see how blurry the speedometer looks? Are those numbers?

A Little Lesson:
Two things...
Keys will never look as beautiful as Kiera Knightly no matter how good I get at this.
Man my car is dusty.

One Strategy

We played Rummikub last night for the Family Home Evening game.
This is a game I could play all day long.
I only have one strategy.
Get the freaky smiley guy and play him on my last move.

A Little Lesson:
I only have one strategy in life too.
No matter what, hang on tight with both arms, both hands, all your fingers, white knuckles and all, and hey put a leg up if your flexible...on the rod that is.

What a Guy

It was Canuck Day at school the other day.
Jordan and Craig are loyal fans.
Emily and I are bandwagon fans...
(the better they do in the playoffs the more we're interested in watching a game)
Clara and Benjamin could care less.

A Little Lesson:
There are three things I didn't know it at the time, that I am so grateful I did not marry...

A-couch-potato-any-sport-game-watching-junkie. . .Craig just loves the Canucks.

A-car-tinkering-car-pining-car-talking-car-guy . . .Craig thinks our 2002 minivan is just fine.

A-video-game-obsessing-late-night-gaming-gamer-guy . . .Craig enjoys the odd game of Wii.

Not that there is anything wrong with the couch-potato-car-tinkering-gamer guy...
he is probably a really nice guy, with a great personality.

It Came

There were three evenings of intense try-outs with a call back a few days later. After the call back you just wait. Wait for the email telling you whether or not you were selected to play for the coveted and highly competitive Gold Soccer Team, or whether or not you'll play for the silver. Jordan, along with 89 of his peers, anxiously waited for the electronic mail to manifest itself in their inboxes. It came...

Good Day,

Jordan has been selected to play Gold #1 Soccer at DPK.
Please confirm by E Mail before by Friday April 17, 2009 if Jordan accepts
this spot.

Thank you in advance,

Jordan's response...."sssssweet!"

A Little Lesson:
I am so proud of Jordan. Not because he made the gold team, yes, that is surely something to be proud of! But what really impresses me is his outlook on life. He is competitive enough to want to do really well, achieve his best and set his goals high, but he is not so competitive that he can only see gold and everything else is a failure. I really believe if he had made the silver team he would of been okay, a little disappointed, but not beaten down. I like the way he looks at the world.

Meat

This weekend was Stake Conference. I accompanied Leanne Turcios on the piano for the musical number on Saturday evening. I arranged the hymn "If You Could High to Kolob". I've decided that hymn is now in my top ten. Craig had to speak twice and did a great job. All of the talks, both Saturday and Sunday morning were awesome. They were hands on, applicable, no-nonsense spiritually uplifting messages. I like to refer to it as the real 'meat' of the gospel.

A Little Lesson:
I spent more than a few years of my young childhood thinking the stake center was actually the steak center. I wasn't so far off.

Along for the Ride

I love this boy.
He just comes along for the ride.
He really liked the set the children made out of paper.
He liked the green glasses case someone left behind even more.

A Little Lesson:
Most of the time Benjamin doesn't know where we're going, what we're doing, or what's coming next in his little day. He doesn't seem to mind. He just has a few small requests: feed me when I'm hungry, let me take my shoes off when I want and don't go where I can't see ya mom.

Commissioned

A number of weeks ago, I was unofficially commissioned by the Vancouver Opera, through my buddy Linda Baird, to write the music for a children's opera being performed next week at an elementary school in Burnaby. I attended the tech rehearsal yesterday with Clara and Benjamin and tried not let the cast of children see my eyes welling up and spilling over! It find it so emotional to finally hear the music I wrote weeks ago, in the early hours of the morning, all alone in my studio, come to life on a stage with 150 kids singing with all their might the songs and melodies I created for them. I can't wait to see it with costumes, lights, sound and props next week!

A Little Lesson:

I almost said no when I got the desperate phone call from Linda to do this project. I had a lot on my plate, however, when I sat down to brainstorm and write the songs, they all arrived at my fingertips at the piano within just a few hours, so I phoned her and said yes. I am so glad I did. I don't know the magical formula of when we should say yes and when we need to say no to things. Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I don't. I do believe that staying close to the spirit can help us wade through the thousands of tasks we would, should or could be doing. That, I am sure about.

Nudge Nudge Wink Wink!

Flowers?
For me???

A Little Lesson:
I promise THIS was not intended to be a HINT!

Posterboard 101

It's that time of year again.

A Little Lesson:
Get out the glue gun.
Get out the paper cutter.
Get out the late night snacks.

At Your Service

I was laying on the couch exhausted from my day,

when I remembered I had children who could double as unpaid servants.

I yelled out to my Emily "Hun, could you get me a glass of ice water, I'm so thirsty!"

"Sure!" she announced.
Ten minutes later...

"At your service" she proudly said as she placed her creative concoction on the coffee table.
I didn't even have to move my arms, just turn my head ever so slightly.


A Little Lesson:
Emily, my darling, you are one of a kind!

Flowers for Easter

I bought myself some tulips for Easter and later that day,
my mom bought me an Easter Lily for Easter.
Woman just know.


A Little Lesson:

One should never wait for a man to bring them flowers. They are too fragrant and too beautiful to let forgetful husbands and boyfriends be the reason they are not filling our rooms with their exquisiteness and elegance. Let there always be a few extra dollars in our grocery budgets that we may all enjoy the grandeur of a bouquet of flowers!

That's It?

This is the ONLY picture I took of the big talent show my team and I put on this past weekend.
There were dancers and singers and Olympians and contests and prizes. . .
and here were are, my devoted team, sitting in the chairs listening to the sound checks.
This picture does not represent how cool and awesome it was.

A Little Lesson:
They say a picture says a thousand words. This one says about three.

Best Friends

We drove to Coquitlam on Easter Sunday so our family could all be there
for Jordan's best friend, Anthony Milad's priesthood ordination.

A Little Lesson:
They like to say "we've been best friends since we were born!"
I like to think it was even earlier than that.

The Plight of the Gardener

I can't bear the thought of thinning my tomato seedlings.
I just want them all to survive and live a prosperous life out in the garden.

A Little Lesson:
There is a lot more death associated with gardening then people think.
Death of the weed.
Death of the sucker.
Death of the shrub that grew too big.
Death of the aphid and all of his friends.
Death of the grass that grows in unwanted places.
And death of the little seedling that never had a chance.

And people say video games are violent.

The Youngest

It's pretty rough when you have one sister to hand feed you strawberry crepes
while the other sister provides you with a footrest and a show.

A Little Lesson:
The beloved youngest child of the family reeps the blessings of
doting sisters or perhaps the curse of multiple mothers.

Clara in the Kitchen

She wants me to wake her up early early early, before anyone else. She wants to help me make breakfast. She doesn't mind that her eyes are stinging it is so early. She just wants to get her fingers in that dough and make the food.

Later the day...

She puts down her princess crown and makes waffles. From start to finish. She needs practically no help. She gets annoyed when I quickly add an ingredient to move it along quicker. She can do it all. I leave her. She doesn't mind how long it takes for each one. She prefers to use a garden glove instead of an oven mitt.

A Little Lesson:
I lived with my Grandma Clara for a month in the summer when I was a little girl. We had all the fun a little girl could possibly have in the summer at her grandma's house. She let me drive her golf cart everyday. We made a beautiful dark blue quilt. She let me walk down to the temple two blocks away, by myself, and just hang out. She bought me candy from the store and took me to see her friends at the Hooderite colony. Most of all, we spent hours and hours in her kitchen baking and making. She always let me help and do the fun stuff, even if it meant an eggshell or two got into the batter. We used to laugh about how funny it was that she had wall to wall carpet in her kitchen. If there is one thing my grandma can do, it is laugh, and make good food. I am so glad I have a little Clara who loves nothing more than to laugh and laugh and make good food in the kitchen. I love you Grandma!

So Happy

When they do this with a smile, I feel like opening my front door, stopping traffic,
and shouting to the world I have the greatest job on earth.

When they do this without complaining I want to stop everything and write a
country song called "It was the Best Day of My Life".

When they eat everything I made on their plate without sniffing, whining or complaining
I want to call up the local radio station and make a dedication "To the Children I Love".

A Little Lesson:
Perhaps a little dramatic, but every mother reading this is nodding their head right now in agreement.

2009 General Conference

It's hard to believe we were just there last conference with Emily.

Our beloved prophet!

I feel full and exhausted as we spent the weekend watching all four sessions of General conference on television. The kids, watched, listened, coloured, filled in conference packets, got in trouble for quarreling and played through out the spiritual marathon. This year, there was not just one talk that stood out but rather many pearls of wisdom that are floating around in my head, some of my favourites so far...

reverence is not just being quiet, but thinking about God

testimony is to know and feel, conversion is to do and become

am I the temple goer that puts it on the calendar and rushes in and rushes out?

if we want to feel protected in times of strife and upheaval...go to the temple.

although it is important our children have music lessons
and other lessons but are we teaching them the lesson of having faith?

A Little Lesson:
I also loved the world report between the conference sessions, especially the report on how important it is that we make sitting down and eating dinner as a family a priority. It seems like such an obvious priority but one that has become lost in the 'over scheduled generation' that so many people find themselves trapped in. Fortunately, this year we have really been able to keep our lessons right after school and make it home in time for dinner...but it feels like a tug of war every year to make sure we are not scheduled for Family Home Evening time, dinner time, church scouting/achievement days and weekend trips to the temple. It's a battle of good-better- best every single day.

Getting it Straight

Today we will watch General Conference as a family to help us on our journey on the straight and narrow.

Craig is a no nonsense give it to ya straight kind of guy.
Jordan gets straight A's.
Emily wants straight hair.
Clara has exceptionally straight teeth.
Benjamin, when carrying large objects is incapable of walking straight.
Some days I would like to put my kids in a straight jacket.

We've got a ways to go. . .


A Little Lesson:
I love this weekend. It is a powerhouse weekend for "little lessons" for sure. So many I can hardly take them all in. I imagine that each speaker has one or two sentences in their talks that are just for me . . .and about 7 million other people.

Jordan Meet Jim

Early this morning, Emily, upon realizing her purple pants were still in the dirty clothes, decided to hand wash them and then throw them in the dryer so she could wear them to school today. Jordan watching this all go down, announces "Hey Mom, we should totally wash all our clothes by hand, it's way easier!" as he stands next to 2 loads of dirty laundry, 4 loads of unfolded clean laundry and 2 loads of folded laundry. I'm sad to say he wasn't trying to be funny.

A Little Lesson:
My dad was a Harvard graduate, the Deputy Minister of Labour by the time he was 35, helped rewrite the Canadian Constitution and would give the shirt off his back to a total stranger. He also can't match his tie to his shirts (colourblind), couldn't find the dishwashing soap if you paid him and thinks he does quite a bit of the housework because he takes out the garbage. Turns out, I'm raising my dad.